Hall-of-fame Oly coach Bob Takano has nearly four decades of coaching experience. He offers some advice for CrossFitters who will be teaching the quick lifts to their athletes.

Having spent years in the sport of weightlifting, I’ve recently become involved in the Crossfit Oly experience by coaching Olympic lifting at Team CrossFit and by assisting with several Oly Certs with coaches Mike Burgener, Stephane Rochet and Josh Everett. These certs have been especially enjoyable because of the great attitude Crossfitters bring to them and because, as we do more and more of them, the participants appear to have done a good deal of the homework beforehand.

I’ve written this article to offer some guidelines and tips to CrossFitters who are now Oly certified and are returning to their home boxes to begin the task of teaching the Oly lifts to their clients. Some of these points may seem very general, but if you pursue them, I’m sure that you will find that they will help you develop as a coach.

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5 Comments on “12 Tips for Coaching O-Lifts in the CrossFit Box”

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wrote …

This article reiterates the training I have had with Ben Angliss from Crossfit MP, and the recent coaching course I have undetaken in Melbourne.
Keep it simple, work on basics and reinforce good technique. I can also confirm the point made about group sizes. I have found it most difficult to adequately coach bigger groups with differing abilities, finding most of my time absorbed with the beginners. The final three points Takano makes about flexibilty and postioning have the one thing in common, learn to SQUAT well.

You are beginning from a less than optimal position, and so other muscle groups and neural patterns must be employed. Attempting to explode from a deep squat position builds explosiveness in the legs and hips as well.

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